Serious computer problem, someone please help!

Gold Member

I have Windows Vista running on my Compaq Presario Notebook. I bought this laptop back in August, but did not get a service warranty on it because I couldn't afford it. I called Compaq about this issue I am about to explain, and they were pretty much no help. I was on the phone with them for an hour, and was able to at least narrow down what was NOT wrong with the computer. So here's the deal, anyway.

Out the blue, several days ago, I got the BSOD (Blue screen of death) and my computer rebooted. The blue screen had lots of info for me, and I wrote some of it down. At the top, it said "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" and then it said "STOP 0x000000D1". Um... it also said something about "fwpkclnt.sys - address 8A4B91F2 base at 8A4B5000, Date Stamp 4549b2f6". At the bottom of the blue screen, it says that it's trying to initialize a crash dump, but the dump always fails and then my computer reboots. WTF is up with that? Anyone know? I've found some info on this error message, but it was never exactly what I was looking for. It was either for different operating systems, or for different programs, or different STOP numbers or something. So it was never exactly what I needed to know. It happens randomly. Not only when using a certain program or anything. Sometimes it happens when I haven't even opened a program. The other day, I restarted the comp after uninstalling a program that I thought might've been the culprit of this problem, and then about two minutes after the restart, it crashed - I hadn't even touched it yet. While on the phone with Compaq, we were able to find out that none of the hardware attached to the computer is causing problems. I pretty much already knew that. In reality, I guess that's about all we figured out... hrm... worthless call center. So anywho... any computer gurus out there know what's up and/or what I can do to fix this issue?

Gold Member

Have you tried updating the OS itself? Vista, from what I hear, is a bit of a weird animal. For some, it works flawlessly but for others, it's a real pain in the unlubed ass....

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I'm not sure what you mean by update. It has all the Windows updates available... so it's up-to-date and secure and all that shit. But I do have an optional Windows Vista Upgrade so I can upgrade the whole software... I haven't done that, though, because the extras are things I don't need/use anyway, and this computer is enough of a resource hog as it is.

Gold Member

It sounds like you have a Virus. I would check for that. Run a good Virus program. After that use System Restore or use your back-up disc's to reinstall the software on your computer. Check for Spyware too. Defragment your computer also.

I would check the event viewer for any clues. Next time it happens and you reboot go into the event viewer (start> run> eventvwr.msc) and look under the application, then system logs.

If that does not provide clues and you have already googled the model of your pc and "blue screen", I would start updating drivers. Video then sound. If you have an ATI or NVidia card in there try the latest stable Vista drivers directly from them.

Last but not least is trying system restore and gong back to a point that you know was ok.

I've gotten the BSOD from Windows updates before. There's a way of uninstalling them one at a time. It went something like spuninst$ with the name of the particular update - something like KB051478.

If you have the Windows Vista disk you can reinstall Windows and choose repair. Yours was likely preinstalled so you can't do that. You can always downgrade to XP. Plenty of free versions of that on piratebay.org

Gold Member

I would check the event viewer for any clues. Next time it happens and you reboot go into the event viewer (start> run> eventvwr.msc) and look under the application, then system logs.

If that does not provide clues and you have already googled the model of your pc and "blue screen", I would start updating drivers. Video then sound. If you have an ATI or NVidia card in there try the latest stable Vista drivers directly from them.

Last but not least is trying system restore and gong back to a point that you know was ok.

Do you have the disc that lets you do a factory restore?

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I must not be too bright. I'm looking at EventViewer, but none of what I'm seeing makes sense. I have no idea how to view Events for a specific program or anything. There's no search option for that or anything. I've been googling my error message forever, and nothing comes up for what my problem is. How do I update drivers? And no, I don't have factore restore disks.

I've gotten the BSOD from Windows updates before. There's a way of uninstalling them one at a time. It went something like spuninst$ with the name of the particular update - something like KB051478.

If you have the Windows Vista disk you can reinstall Windows and choose repair. Yours was likely preinstalled so you can't do that. You can always downgrade to XP. Plenty of free versions of that on piratebay.org

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I was also wondering if it wasn't from Windows Updates. I don't have a Windows Vista disk to do repairs. I tried doing System Restore and that didn't work. I'm not sure why, but it didn't. It restored, then it tried to restart... but it had an error in the restart, so I ran some restart repair thing that comes with Vista, and it fixed it so it would start, but when it started, nothing was different. I'm sure that downgrading to XP would be fine, but I don't know how good I feel about getting a pirate version of that off the internet...

Gold Member

I agree with sjprep06. It sounds like you have Zone Alarm installed. Uninstall it and see if the problem persists.

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Well, shit. I almost missed his update to that post he made. I downloaded ZoneAlarm but then uninstalled it later the same day when I found something else that was better. So it's technically not on my computer, and I ran a Registry Cleaner so all of the "extra" shit should've been deleted as well.

Why? Vista runs okay on my desktop, but it's slow on any but the latest core2duo laptops. XP will run a lot faster. The main problem with a clean install is you lose everything that's currently on your computer. It won't be a problem if you can make it run long enough to store the things you want to keep on a CD or flash drive.

Well, shit. I almost missed his update to that post he made. I downloaded ZoneAlarm but then uninstalled it later the same day when I found something else that was better. So it's technically not on my computer, and I ran a Registry Cleaner so all of the "extra" shit should've been deleted as well.

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Unfortunately, Zone Alarm is one tough bugger to remove from your system. I can almost guarantee that's the issue. You'll need to back up your files and then run whatever recovery disc they gave you to re-image your hard drive.

BTW, LOVE the 'swallows' t-shirt!! Did you find that in KC? We're over in Shawnee and I'd love to find one for my wife.

Well, shit. I almost missed his update to that post he made. I downloaded ZoneAlarm but then uninstalled it later the same day when I found something else that was better. So it's technically not on my computer, and I ran a Registry Cleaner so all of the "extra" shit should've been deleted as well.

Click to expand...

Did the problem start before or after you briefly installed and unistalled ZoneAlarm? Because from what I read, it may have been a conflict with ZA and Windows' internal firewalls....

Gold Member

Think of the programs you installed recently and uninstall them one by one. Vista is a memory hog. You may have too many programs running on start up. Check whats running on your computer on start up and whats running now.

Gold Member

I have Windows Vista running on my Compaq Presario Notebook. I bought this laptop back in August, but did not get a service warranty on it because I couldn't afford it. I called Compaq about this issue I am about to explain, and they were pretty much no help. I was on the phone with them for an hour, and was able to at least narrow down what was NOT wrong with the computer. So here's the deal, anyway.

Out the blue, several days ago, I got the BSOD (Blue screen of death) and my computer rebooted. The blue screen had lots of info for me, and I wrote some of it down. At the top, it said "DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" and then it said "STOP 0x000000D1". Um... it also said something about "fwpkclnt.sys - address 8A4B91F2 base at 8A4B5000, Date Stamp 4549b2f6". At the bottom of the blue screen, it says that it's trying to initialize a crash dump, but the dump always fails and then my computer reboots. WTF is up with that? Anyone know? I've found some info on this error message, but it was never exactly what I was looking for. It was either for different operating systems, or for different programs, or different STOP numbers or something. So it was never exactly what I needed to know. It happens randomly. Not only when using a certain program or anything. Sometimes it happens when I haven't even opened a program. The other day, I restarted the comp after uninstalling a program that I thought might've been the culprit of this problem, and then about two minutes after the restart, it crashed - I hadn't even touched it yet. While on the phone with Compaq, we were able to find out that none of the hardware attached to the computer is causing problems. I pretty much already knew that. In reality, I guess that's about all we figured out... hrm... worthless call center. So anywho... any computer gurus out there know what's up and/or what I can do to fix this issue?

Click to expand...

What you have here is a common occurance in windows vista and xp, its called a kernal panic. When a driver is used by windows that isn't digitally signed by microsoft itself to be totally compliant with the kernel of vista of xp, this is what happens. Alot of the time (vista especially), the companies that write the drivers are a tad sloppy at the code writing part. This is probably most common right now with the intel high definition audio drivers. They aren't really that stable on some systems, and i'm guessing you have and amd/nvidia combo for processor/graphics?

Zone alarm? I see now. Yes it will conflict with Windows Firewalls. Try uninstalling it again?

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I don't think the uninstall for Zone Alarm removes all of the files. I had a similar problem with it some time ago. Maybe search "fwpkclnt.sys" on your hard drive and delete that file. But I still think you'll need to just re-image the hard drive and start over.

Gold Member

Unfortunately, Zone Alarm is one tough bugger to remove from your system. I can almost guarantee that's the issue. You'll need to back up your files and then run whatever recovery disc they gave you to re-image your hard drive.

BTW, LOVE the 'swallows' t-shirt!! Did you find that in KC? We're over in Shawnee and I'd love to find one for my wife.

Did the problem start before or after you briefly installed and unistalled ZoneAlarm? Because from what I read, it may have been a conflict with ZA and Windows' internal firewalls....

Click to expand...

I don't remember exactly, but yeah, it was around the time I installed ZoneAlarm. So I'm pretty sure that's the problem. I've been reading about it. My problem now, is, I've completely uninstalled ZoneAlarm and it's still crashing, so now what?

Think of the programs you installed recently and uninstall them one by one. Vista is a memory hog. You may have too many programs running on start up. Check whats running on your computer on start up and whats running now.

Click to expand...

I already uninstalled everything that was installed immediately before it started crashing.

What you have here is a common occurance in windows vista and xp, its called a kernal panic. When a driver is used by windows that isn't digitally signed by microsoft itself to be totally compliant with the kernel of vista of xp, this is what happens. Alot of the time (vista especially), the companies that write the drivers are a tad sloppy at the code writing part. This is probably most common right now with the intel high definition audio drivers. They aren't really that stable on some systems, and i'm guessing you have and amd/nvidia combo for processor/graphics?

Gold Member

I don't think the uninstall for Zone Alarm removes all of the files. I had a similar problem with it some time ago. Maybe search "fwpkclnt.sys" on your hard drive and delete that file. But I still think you'll need to just re-image the hard drive and start over.

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I found that file in two places on my computer, both of the are in Windows system folders. Should I really delete something out of a Windows system folder?